Gridlock News

  Close to 600,000 Serbians turned out in Belgrade to protest the Kosovo's move towards independence.  Kosovo has long historic roots with Serbia dating back over a millenia.  In the last 50 years, it has become populated with ethnic Albanians in addition to resident Serbs.

During and after the Yugosloavia civil war many atrocities were committed in this section of Serbia, which ultimately led to NATO troops deploying and later bombing Belgrade to force a separation of the two portions of the country.  Now that separation has turned to secession and Serbs are extremely angry and fueled in part by Serbian hard liners and the influence of Russia working to antagonize the West and rebuild a buffer similar to the Communist buffer that existed during the cold war.

Yugosloavia was a country created after World War II to bring together many diverse groups of peoples, religions and cultures.  The glue for the country did not stick and following the 92 Olympics resulted in open civil war.  Historically, the region has been the battle ground and the clash point of Christians, Muslims and Slavic peoples.  World War I was initially sparked in the Bosnia Hercegovina region next door to Serbia and for almost 50 years part of Yugoslavia.

The Balkans War also proved to be a place where many jihadists from Afghanistan fought after the Afghanistan war against the USSR.  When that civil war ended, those jihadists migrated to Africa (Darfur, Somalia, Nigeria and other areas) along with some that migrated back to Afghanistan and to Iraq via Afghanistan after the US invasion of Iraq.

The UN, the US and Europe fear a resurgence of fighting in Serbia and Kosovo, which could spread once again through Croatia and Bosnia.  Some reports indicate that Croatia's embassy was hit as well today.  That spread could bring those jihadists back to Europe fresh from fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and ready to spread discord in Europe.

The violence fueled growing fears in Washington and Brussels that Serbia was turning to the virulent nationalism of the past.

Protesters Attack U.S. Embassy in Belgrade

It does not help that Russia is benefiting tremendously from the instability.  Fighting in the middle east raises the price of oil and Russia's oil revenues.  That locks Vladimir Putin in power and sets Russia up to resume its place at least as a European power.

This new spark of civil war if nothing else could significantly harm a region that has been working to pull itself back together both in terms of manufacturing products such as cars, textiles and components such as plasma lift consoles to re-establishing itself as a peaceful region that put on one of the most spectacular winter Olympics in the last 25 years.